


Seasons ft. Izumi

by MyDestinyIsWritten



Series: Maiko Week 2020 [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 21:28:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29478462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyDestinyIsWritten/pseuds/MyDestinyIsWritten
Summary: The seasons featuring izumi!
Relationships: Mai & Zuko (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Maiko Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2213646
Kudos: 16





	Seasons ft. Izumi

**_Winter_ **

“I don’t like this,” a shivering Zuko says, rubbing his hands together trying to generate friction between his numb fingers.

“Well, that's too bad, isn’t it, Izumi likes it” Mai was kneeling down, knees sodden with snow, trying to pull a fluffy hat on her giggling daughter’s small head.

“I don’t know  _ how _ , snow is so  _ cold _ ” Zuko frowned

“That’s kind of the point, Zuko” Mai grunts, nearly face-planting the ground as Izumi tries to run out of her mother’s arms.

“Stay here and don’t go by the trees!” Mai calls after Izumi after she lets her go, running off only to fall onto her knees not 10 steps in.

“Zumi?” Zuko asks, peering out from his many layers of fleece and wool.

“I’m good, daddy!” she called before pushing herself up and going into a sprint again.

“She’s too much like you” Mai wrinkles her nose with distaste.

Zuko hums, “No, no, I remember a certain lady determined to fight people off with her oh-so-mighty daggers at any given moment, and then ready to go again, letting nothing stand in her way”

Mai sends him a  _ look _ and he smiles hesitantly, settling onto the water-resistant sheet they’d placed on the ground topped with heaps of blankets and pillows.

They had found a clearing packed with fresh snow and surrounded by a multitude of dense trees, perfect for keeping an eye on their daughter.

They had to pay special attention to that, Izumi had a knack for running loose the second her three-year-old toes touched the ground.

Usually Zuko was the one tasked with running after her, keeping her from running into walls (or one time, that weird cabbage stand). He took it in stride though, making it into a game of making sure Izumi was having fun and staying unhurt, he was such a worrywart.

Zuko was dozing off against Mai’s thigh, nose and cheeks a light pink from the cold, when Izumi called out, “Daddy!! Come hereeee!”

His head got shoved off as Mai swatted his head, “I’m coming!” he called wriggling his toes slightly under his shoes.

“Zumi? Where are you?” 

Tripping over his own feet as something hit him in the back of his head, he whirled around, Izumi was watching him, cheekily, from behind a dry shrub, convicting her of throwing the treacherous snowball.

Zuko raised an eyebrow and slowly reached down, scooping up a handful of snow, packing into a tight ball ready to throw-

“No, wait Daddy!” she lunged her tiny frame at his legs, clinging to his knee. The snowball fell to the ground abandoned as Zuko swung Izumi up onto his hip.

“Lets go get Mommy” her raspy little voice tickled his ear and he pulled back, “Are you sure?” he deadpanned.

Izumi grinned and nodded, sneaky little thing.

A glance over to where the blanket was set up showed Mai couldn’t see them from the distance and Zuko nodded, preparing for battle.

They crept through the trees, Izumi holding tight to Zuko’s hand, till they were stationed right behind an unsuspecting Mai. Snowballs were picked up and packed, aimed at her back, Zuko looked over to Izumi for the final confirmation before hurling the snow.

There was silence for a minute after the snowballs were thrown, Izumi gulped nervously waiting for the verdict, Mai stood up before turning around so she was glaring directly at them (it held no real anger, though)

“Uh-oh” Zuko whispered

Mai raised a hand putting down a finger every second, 5...4...3...2-

_ Shoot _

Zuko laughed as he ran, scoping Izumi up, streaking through the snow, “We’re really gonna get it now, little firecracker” he yelled to the snickering girl in his arms.

  
  


**_Autumn_ **

“You know, I never really saw the point of Halloween”, Mai says leaning forward as Zuko raises an amused eyebrow.

“Really?” he teases

She shakes her head as Zuko shivers when a chill breeze blows past, “Where’s your coat, Zuko?”

“Izumi wanted it” he states, glancing at the 5 year-old in question running around the pumpkins, wobbling every few seconds as Zuko’s heavy jacket shifted her weight.

“It’s too big on her” 

“She still likes it” Zuko speaks

Mai sighs, shrugging her shawl over her shoulders and moving her long hair back before handing the overcoat to Zuko, “Here take this”

Zuko smiles, and it's that same exact smile that made her fall in love with him, his smitten little smile while his eyes shine with pure  _ adoration _ . She gulps, still amazed by how this  _ idiot _ can still make her head dizzy with  _ feelings _ .

Zuko takes the tunic from her, she liked the cold anyways.

Izumi stalks over to them, footsteps giving a satisfying  _ ‘crunch!’ _ every time her boots crunched onto the leaves, her arms are weighed down by a medium-sized pumpkin.

Zuko gets up to help her place it down gently onto the ground by her mom’s feet.

“This one is good!” she grins, the space where she recently lost a tooth, gaping.

“Awesome” he grinned

The picnic table they’re sitting at is already covered with a plastic cover and there is a wide-range of tools scattered, from a small pocket knife to stickers Izumi had picked out of little ghosts and spiders.

Izumi had picked out a funny-looking little pumpkin, bumpy and not in any way round, it was adorable though.

Zuko helped his daughter scoop all the gunk out - a lot of which ended up in his hair - and Mai helped carve it.

It looked pretty good at the end, except if the purpose was to scare people, it didn’t do that at all. 

That was fine though.

-

**_Summer_ **

“Where’s Dad?” now 8 year-old Izumi asked, the lower half of her body was already submerged under the cool water.

“He’ll be here soon, firefly”, she assured

Izumi frowned, her mom pulled out the comfort nickname, “He isn’t coming, is he?” she sighed

“Your dad’s been busy lately, but he’ll be here” Mai didn’t believe her own words, “Kiyi’s probably gonna be here soon, anyways”

Izumi floated on her back through the water, “When’s Kya getting here?”, Mai leaned back into the chair, shutting her eyes, “They’ll be here tomorrow” she supplied

Izumi was very social...to the people she wanted to, otherwise she was quiet. She had mostly confided in her parents for everything and Mai definitely noticed when she stopped, and Mai was  _ trying _ . She didn’t want to be like every other generic Royal family, where no one ever spoke or laughed, and everything was forced, but she couldn’t  _ do _ anything. Izumi missed her dad, and to be honest, Mai missed him too. 

It’s not like he was gone or anything he just..wasn’t there.

There’d be the occasional kiss to the cheek or witty quip directed towards them in the hall, and Mai knew he made it a point to kiss Izumi’s forehead no matter how late it was into the night, but he was overworked and exhausted all the time and he was completely out of it.

She was doing her best trying to make him get at least couple hours of sleep and getting some water in before another conference but Zuko was still stumbling around pale-skinned and heavy bags under his eyes.

Anyways, Izumi was getting hard to deal with, she was acting out, not in a crazy tantrum way, no this way was much worse. She snarked back, and not in the dry humour that was oh-so appreciated in this family, but she would be talking over people and lying straight through her teeth.

_ “Why’d you say that?” _ , to a misplaced comment.

_ “I didn’t say anything Mom!” _

Anyways, Izumi was either lashing out or resigned and ruiet, eyes rolled up as she thought about something else she’d never talk about out loud, but one thing she always brought up was Kya, Izumi loved Kya. The 4 year-old child of Aang and Katara was quiet when she wanted to be and was smiling and laughing the rest. 

Bumi was 2 years older than Izumi and while they had gotten along when they were younger, not so much anymore.

Mai coughed, “Zumi?”

Her daughter glided through the water, not saying anything, “Kiyi will be here soon” she said shortly, standing up and walking past the guards, through the hallways, towards their private quarters. The closer she got to their own room, more personal items started popping up, maybe a portrait or painting of their family and friends, one in loving memory of Suki and Sokka, some pieces and artifacts that had made it through past battles and torment bearing small scuff marks showing what they survived.

The doors to her and Zuko’s room swung open, some stray papers floating through the air as the breeze from the door pushed them along.

As expected, it was empty, and Mai felt a sudden weight crash on her shoulders, not a physical one.

Mai’s been holding strong and now she was crumbling, slipping onto her knees as though her muscles were no longer interested in keeping her upright.

She didn’t cry though, instead resigning to staring blankly at the wall as if it could help her in ways nothing else could.

  
  


**_Spring_ **

Izumi stood shoulders straight and thin-wired glasses high on her nose, one of each of her parent’s hands resting lightly on her shoulders, a constant weight telling them they’re there.

The beaming sun shone rays into her eyes making her dizzy as she stared out into the mixed color-coded crowd standing and cheering below her.

Her nose wrinkled, it was so easy to distinguish between people of her own nation in their stereotypical red. There was also a significant amount of green and some blue thrown into the mix. She’d never got that, red was a wonderful color but sometimes she’d want to go out in clear sky-blue clothes or maybe a dark green jacket without getting stares. It’s not that they  _ couldn’t _ wear different colored clothes but it was kind of an unspoken thing everyone followed in public, sometimes in their own homes too.

Her eyes focused on a particularly loud group of people under the marigolds that littered the rooftops, cheering and pumping fists into the air. The bright flowers had started blooming not too long ago and the petals blowing astray flew and ‘thwipped!’ through the air making it look like it was raining gold.

She honestly didn’t even get the point of all this but her dad had insisted on it. Her title had always been Princess of the Fire Nation but they were making it official(or something) with a small ceremony. 

Apparently her dad needed to re-evaluate the definition of ‘small’ because this was in no way a low-key celebration, she was 14 she didn’t necessarily  _ need _ all this, she hadn’t done anything to deserve it either.

She glanced back at her parents, both had disgustingly fond looks plastered on their faces. Directed at her or each other, she had no idea, but it was a sweet sight to see.

Maybe if she had her camera on her she could’ve taken a shot of it, that would’ve been a nice addition to her room, not that she didn’t already have multiple pictures of her parents strung up.

She has plenty of pictures of multitudes of things, gathering dust in a small box she’d pull out every so often to look at. The pictures were pretty good compared to her previous ones, she’d definitely gotten better at photography, so that was nice.

Her mom squeezed her shoulder, pulling her back out of her head so that the roars of the crowd grew in her ears.

“Wave” her dad laughed in her ear.

Izumi grinned sheepishly, waving to the small blobs bouncing around along the streets, even the closest people looked no bigger than her arm’s length.

Now, she was walking around the alleys through the villages, greeting people and hugging the little children who were skipping along beside her.

A bunch of times, people her age had come up to her and made her laugh, she didn’t adore being the center of attention but she wouldn’t say she hated that everyone was strolling up to her and converse. It was always kind of hard to meet other kids since she grew up in the palace, not that she hadn’t had plenty of human interaction, but it was refreshing to see so many new faces who laughed along with her and didn’t treat her like some haughty-taughty royal person like everyone in the palace did.

When most of the crowd was dispersed, she turned to face Mai and Zuko and tired smile on her face, “That was fun” she stated

“I told you it would be” her father grinned.

Then her parents both face each other as if they’re talking to each other through their heads, what’s oddly disturbing is that they both turn to look at her at the exact same time, she honestly feels like shrinking a little bit.

Her mom steps forward pulling her into a hug, one of her hands placed high on Izumi’s back, while her dad joins in wrapping his arms around the two of them.

“We’re so proud of you” her mom whispered, her soft voice tickling her ear.

She vaguely hears a camera ‘click!’ and she stores it away to later come back and ask for a copy of the picture from the young boy who took it.

For now though, she stands ,soaking in the warmth they give off naturally from their skin, and enjoys the moment wrapped in her parent’s arms. 

**Author's Note:**

> another re-upload of my fics for maiko week, also i kinda like this one


End file.
